Over the last couple months, I’ve noticed a food cart parked outside premix king and shepp cannery surplus, near NQR clearance stores on Howitt street, in the Wendouree CBD.
Bright blue fairy lights adorn a plain white boxish food van, shining alluringly in the night. Painted quite simply on the back of the van is some stylised burgers, kebabs and love hearts.

Mmmmm burgers.. Kebabs
. And oh yes I love them!!
It seemed a bit gimmicky at first, parked outside a late night liquor store, in a lonely car park, so I never investigated… Just drive on by. This, I’d learn, was a big mistake!!

Earlier this week, I and the lass stopped by in Wendouree shopping strip to quickly pick something up. It was a fresh night, pleasantly frosty, so we went for a wander, determined to undo whatever meager exercise we had undertaken with a good dose of comforting takeout.

Looking at the menu, the prices were reasonably cheap, the van was very clean and certainly not the usual disturbingly insanitary state food vans often can be… especially those serving kebabs!

We picked out a HSP – Halal Snack Pack. with two meats- chicken and Lamb.

As per usual, we devoured half that delicious Ballarat HSP before getting aroudn to takign a photo of it, in all its pristine three sauced splendour- there was a choice, but we went with traditional- Garlic, BBQ and chilli.

The size was particularly generous- more than enough for two, and served nice and piping hot!

The surprise was that in addition to delicious meats, the chips beneath were exceptionally golden and crispy. well above average, and probably the best take away chips in Ballarat, even rivaling the golden gems served up by the round the way bagel burger cafe.

The staff were really friendly, enthusiastic young people too- their cute little daughter can be seen helping her mum make burgers just over the counter, which is indescribably adorable.

The original Baguette sandwich stand on Degraves street’s official name is actually “Waffle On” and has reportedly been around for more than a decade now.

Excellent Baguettes and waffles are made by a slightly obnoxious, and possibly eccentric french guy, Marc Launcher that manages to balls up everyone’s name and garble it into some kind of incomprehensible accented version when he calls your name to pick up your order.

He certainly lives in a lonely isolated tower of indecipherable speech- fortunately, his shop girl who works the tills seems to be able to translate for him when necessary.

That said, the annoying french guy makes damn nice Baguettes! at $10 each, they seem like a ripoff at first, and I only bought one on the recommendation of my boss… butt.. one taste, and you realise that the french bloke has attained mastery of his trade. In fact, the calling of your name, by the sandwich master himself feels somewhat personalised and just part of good service.

Perfectly constructed, the obscenely long baguette is the right mix of softness, longness and crispiness, and is not too tough, big or dense. The right amount of pickles, ham, mustard, Gruyere cheese and other goodies all adds up to the perfect “La Parisien” baguette on Degraves street- a laneway famous for sandwiches, probably because of this man and his little shop.

Would I go here often? NO!

It’s expensive, I don’t need to, and can’t justify spending $10 on lunch regularly, but would I go again? most certainly YES! – the rolls he manufactures are superb!

This little shop may look very understated, and in a scummy looking location, at the mouth of a musty train subway staircase, but if you are hungry for an above average lunch, do not go past it, call in and see what all the fuss is about!